Elon Musk and SpaceX Fails Spectacularly… Again

SpaceX is Elon Musk’s signature company and it has goals that are literally out of this world.

The front page of the SpaceX website states, “Making Life Multiplanetary”. Sounds pretty cool. Liberals think we’ve totally ruined this planet beyond repair. The idea of checking out of Earth and heading for another planet is a great goal for a company or mankind. From what I’ve seen of Mars in pictures, there isn’t much there to ruin, so I say, you can have it.

Nevertheless, the great thing about a company with a virtually unattainable goal that most everyone thinks is cool, is the fact that it can lose money forever and no one cares. No one cares that we really can’t go live on Mars, now or maybe ever. No one cares when Musk sets up schemes inside government to cash in on billions in grants, loans, and more while maintaining the appearance of being a visionary.

On September 1st, another SpaceX rocket blew up in a fiery explosion that rivaled Hollywood. Click here to see it. Like I said, even in failure, Musk does it spectacularly. That explosion cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The Facebook satellite it was carrying cost around $200 million in its own right, not to mention the rocket itself, but who cares. Elon Musk is going to make us “Multiplanetary” right? Someday? Maybe?

Musk first issued a statement that the explosion was caused by an issue near the oxygen tank, but now it may have been something much more exciting or even nefarious. SpaceX is now actually trying to cast the idea of sabotage by their competitors into the mix. They went so far as to ask the public for help and to turn over any video they might have of the explosion.

“SpaceX had still images from video that appeared to show an odd shadow, then a white spot on the roof of a nearby building leased by ULA, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.”

Seriously? An odd shadow on the roof? If that’s the best SpaceX can do, they are in full melt down mode.

Luckily, I alone have obtained footage of the “odd shadow” on the roof. I am emailing this video to SpaceX and Elon Musk immediately so they can look into it. Click here to see it now.

All kidding aside, I’m quite sure it has been a tough month for Elon, but an odd shadow and white spot on the roof is too much. The problem may lie in the fact that awesome graphics on a website and Multiplanetary goals don’t fix shoddy engineering. And shoddy engineering makes rockets go, Ka-Boom!

This isn’t the first explosion. Last year another Falcon Rocket was in flames. SpaceX should no longer be looked at as a reliable contractor. NASA has plans to use SpaceX rockets. They might want to revisit that decision.

SpaceX is proving to be a poor risk for investors, which turns out to be all of us since they’ve taken millions and millions from the US Government. If you add up all of the grants and subsidies SpaceX and Musk have taken it is in the Billions. Around $4.9 billion according to the Los Angeles Times. For $4.9 billion we’ve gotten some very earthly explosions and very little “Multiplanetary” anything.

It might be time to take off the rose colored glasses and realize that Musk is playing fast and loose with a whole lot of taxpayer dollars. As long as he keeps giving speeches about living on other planets or vacationing intergalactically, many people will remain dazzled. The rest of us need to wake up.

The sad truth may be closer to the fact that Musk never has to make it to Mars to keep the money flowing. Heck, he can’t even get off the launch pad, but the cash cow keeps on pumping out the green. By the time Musk is done with SpaceX he might be able to buy Mars, even if we won’t all be living there.

Steve Sherman is the Senior Editor at DailySurge.com, popular radio commentator, author of five novels, and former Iowa House candidate. His articles have appeared nationally in both print and online for Townhall, Human Events, Clash Daily, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, Red Alert Politics, Forbes, and others. His most recent novel, a political thriller titled Mercy Shot, and all titles by Steve can be found on Amazon or at www.scsherman.com.